The Girls in the Woods

by Helen Phifer

  Will opened the door to help Annie out; she was pale with the shock and the rough journey here, had angry purple and black bruising around the swelling by her eye and was covered in specks of blood – but she had never looked so wonderful to him, because she was alive. She got out and clasped hold of Will. Jake jumped out and shook his head; he didn’t know what to say. A nurse offered her a wheelchair but she shook her head and walked through the double doors into the waiting casualty department where the waiting room was full of people staring at them. The shirtless man covered in blood, the pregnant woman with a black eye and the huge policeman next to them. The nurse led them straight past the waiting room and into the all-too-familiar cubicles. A doctor stepped out of the resuscitation room covered in Jo’s blood and Annie blanched; poor Jo had finally stood up to her bastard of a husband to save both her and Tilly’s lives – but at what cost? Paul stepped out and walked towards Annie, who he knew from her antenatal visits. He was covered in more blood than Will. Annie gently took hold of his hand.

  ‘How is she?’

  He nodded, tried to speak but couldn’t, and had to cough to clear his throat.

  ‘She’s lost a lot of blood, too much blood really to survive, but she’s hanging in there – just. They’re about to rush her to theatre.’

  The doors opened and the trolley appeared – surrounded by a team of doctors and nurses, Jo looked so tiny lying there completely lifeless. Will squeezed Annie’s hand, knowing fine well that she was blaming herself for all of this when the only person to blame was Heath Tyson. Another trolley was rolled in; this one had a policeman either side and Will was glad to see they had handcuffed him to the metal guard rails on each side. They were taking no chances; he was an extremely dangerous man. Annie turned away. Will pulled the curtain across so she wouldn’t have to look at him.

  ‘Please find out how Tilly is, and can you phone Ben and tell him?’

  Kav stepped through the curtains.

  ‘Already taken care of. I’ve sent Cathy to go and collect them.’

  ‘Cathy as in our Inspector Cathy, who has even less tact than I do?’

  ‘Yes, Jake, and, believe it or not, the woman is not as bad as you might think – she wouldn’t be inspector if she was, would she?’

  ‘Well, you would say that, wouldn’t you, because you and her are shagging. On your head be it, Sarge.’

  Annie giggled and Kav decided not to bollock Jake because seeing Annie smile amongst all this chaos was worth a little cheek from Jake.

  ‘Shut up, Jake – don’t be so rude. And thank you, Kav. I really appreciate it.’

  Will stepped through the curtains to go and find the doctor looking after Annie’s niece; what a headache this was going to be. The crime scene back at the house was a complete mess and would take days to process; he decided he would take all the help he could get and if any of the powers that be said he couldn’t work this case any more because of the family connections he wouldn’t be so precious for once. He was so tired of it all. He’d thought that coming back to work had been the right thing to do, but maybe it hadn’t. He’d never felt exhaustion like this, ever – if he was honest with himself he was feeling overwhelmed by it all. They had the killer; now it was only a matter of time before those bodies were officially identified. If they couldn’t link the bodies to him at least they had him for the abduction of Tilly, Annie and attempted murder of his wife, Jo. Will just hoped that she pulled through surgery and the charge of attempted murder wouldn’t have to be upgraded to murder.

  They all heard Lisa’s voice the minute she walked into the department, and even Jake cringed. Will had already told Annie that Tilly was responding well to the treatment for hypothermia and although she wasn’t likely to wake up any time soon – because of the amount of sedatives in her system – by tomorrow she should. Annie had buried her head in her arms, relieved for her niece, but she was still worried about Jo. They were both alive because of her and Annie would never be able to repay the debt; she owed her everything.

  Paul was taken to the small but comfortable relatives’ room in the intensive care unit, where they’d sat him down and told him it was quieter and he could wait until Jo came out of surgery because she would be brought straight to the intensive care unit. They didn’t say how long it would be, though, before she would be stable enough for him to see her again and he knew that it could be a long time yet. The last few hours kept replaying in his mind and he wondered if this was all his fault? If he hadn’t taken her back to his house and then begged her to leave Heath, would she be fighting for her life in surgery right now? He knew the answer to that question, without a doubt, was that, regardless of his intervention, it would have come to this sooner or later. A nurse brought him some hospital scrubs to change into; his own clothes were heavily blood-stained and the woman from CSI had come to find him and ask for them as evidence. He’d changed in the small toilet, scrubbed his hands and face with the antibacterial gel and then put his clothes into the brown paper sack that she’d given him. His face was grey and the woman in the black polo shirt and combat trousers had taken the sack from him, sitting down opposite him.

  ‘Thank you. I hear you were quite the hero and probably saved her life.’

  ‘I just did what anyone would have done. It was the detective who probably made the difference by putting pressure on the wound within seconds. Or at least I’m praying to God that between the pair of us we made the difference.’

  Debs sighed. ‘I’m sure it will have. The staff are really good here. She is one very brave woman. I don’t know too much about it because I’ve just been called in, but I know she saved the life of one of my colleagues and her niece.’

  Paul looked at her. ‘She was incredibly brave. I would never have thought that she’d have it in her, but it’s amazing what you can do when faced with a desperate situation.’

  ‘Oh, you can say that again – my husband is in there.’

  She nodded her head in the direction of the double doors, which were shut but led into the ward.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that. How is he?’

  ‘The truth is, he’s a complete mess. He threw himself in front of a police car travelling at speed because he was drunk and thought it was the right thing to do.’

  Paul sucked in his breath.

  ‘Oh my goodness, that’s awful. You must be devastated. What have they said his prognosis is?’

  ‘That when he wakes up he’ll either be fine – maybe have some slight memory loss and a limp. Or he’ll wake up a vegetable. If he wakes up. They can’t make up their minds at the moment how bad he is.’

  ‘That’s terrible. I hope he wakes up soon and proves them all wrong.’

  ‘Me too. We were having a bit of a rough patch and had split up. The thing is, he wouldn’t be in here if he hadn’t found out I’d been having an affair so it’s my fault that he so got drunk and decided to.’

  Paul leant over and patted her knee.

  ‘It’s all terribly sad, there’s no denying that, but you didn’t push him in front of that car, did you?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘No, I thought not, and this is going to sound cruel – but it was his decision, not yours, so you can’t blame yourself for what’s happened. Life doesn’t always work out how we imagined. People fall in and out of love for all sorts of reasons. I’m a big believer that things happen because they’re supposed to.’

  She smiled at him.

  ‘Thank you so much; you’re very kind and that’s very good advice. I hope you listen to your own advice because I get the distinct impression that you are sitting here blaming yourself for what’s happened to your friend.’

  He laughed.

  ‘You’re very astute. Yes, I feel terrible and I do think that it’s all my fault.’

  ‘Well, it’s not. From what I’ve heard your friend made the decision to intervene all by herself. You should be very proud of her and, when you get the chance, make the most of every moment that
you can. I have a feeling that you two were destined to be together.’

  Paul’s eyes filled with tears, making his vision blurry. The woman stood up and, grabbing the bag, she turned to leave.

  ‘I’d better get back to work. I’ve taken up enough of your time. Take care.’

  And she was gone. He let the tears fall because he couldn’t hold them in any longer. He cried hot, salty tears of guilt, regret and disgust that he had let it come this far.

  Chapter 29

  When Will finally led Annie out of the hospital, she was tired and wanted nothing more than to go home to bed and sleep for ever, cocooned under the duvet next to Will – but she knew that wouldn’t be an option just yet. Will had so much work to do and she felt terrible for him; he’d been so quiet and not himself. She wanted to help, but he wouldn’t talk to her. Every time she asked him what was wrong he shook his head and smiled, but something was wrong and she hated that he thought he couldn’t talk to her about it. The last thing she wanted was for either of them to start keeping secrets from one another.

  Alex was waiting outside, parked in one of the on-call doctor parking spaces, with his engine running. Alice was fast asleep in the car seat in the back and Annie climbed in next to her, whispering.

  ‘Hey, beautiful baby girl… I missed you.’

  Will slid in next to her. She laid her head on his shoulder.

  ‘I’m getting too old for this and I’m starving. Please could we go to the drive-through, Alex? I need a big juicy quarter pounder with cheese?’

  Alex nodded. Jake came running out to the car; unzipping his body armour he opened the boot and threw it in along with everything else.

  ‘Sorry, you’re going to have to drive me back to Windermere station after we’ve dropped these two off. I need to drop my kit off and get my car. Do you mind?’

  ‘Not at all but we have to make a detour first. Annie’s starving.’

  ‘Makes a change… of course not. Where we going?’

  ‘McDonalds,’ chimed all three of them. Jake groaned.

  ‘Fuck it, I’ve been on a diet for most of the day and I’m bloody starving – not to mention stressed out, and I get so hungry when I’m stressed. No wonder you don’t stick to them, Annie – it’s torture. I need lots of greasy food and a huge chocolate milkshake.’

  Annie mustered up enough energy to lean forward and poke him in the side.

  ‘Cheeky. I can’t stick to them because I’m always working with you and you never stop eating.’

  Jake began to laugh.

  ‘It’s a shame the vet’s isn’t open; we could have made a little detour and called there on the way. Will and me have come up with a great plan for you. We’re going to get you microchipped like they do with dogs, so we can keep an eye on you.’

  Will held his hands up.

  ‘I never said that – he did.’

  ‘I don’t care – in fact, it might be a good idea. I only went to see Jo to pass half an hour, so I could then go and speak to you in private. I had no idea that Heath was the man responsible for everything and that he was going to try and finish us all off. I’m still in shock about what happened – I just can’t believe it.’

  ‘Let’s not talk about him. It boils my blood thinking about him and what he’s done to those girls, Jo, Tilly and you. Tomorrow we’re all going to have to relive every minute of today when we give statements so let’s just try to forget about it for now and get some rest.

  ‘I’m really worried about Jo; she lost a lot of blood. Do you think she’ll be okay? I wonder if she’s out of surgery yet.’

  Will’s phone began to ring. ‘Hello.’

  ‘Will, it’s Paul, Dr Miller. Jo’s out of surgery. Can you tell Annie that she’s okay? They’ve managed to stop the bleeding and repair the damage. She’s gone into intensive care, but it’s just a precaution.’

  Will stuck his thumb up at Annie, who breathed out a sigh of relief.

  ‘That’s fantastic news, Paul, I’m so glad. We’ll come and see her tomorrow. If you get to speak to her tell her I said thank you, from the bottom of my heart.’

  ‘I know, it’s a miracle – thanks to you. I think you saved her life, Will, and of course I’ll tell her when she wakes up. She’s a pretty amazing woman.’

  He ended the call and Will chuckled.

  ‘Go, Jo! She’s a right little fighter underneath that timid exterior. It looks as if she has the good doctor to look out for her as well, which is a nice end to this horror story.’

  Annie smiled. She couldn’t wait to see her and thank her in person.

  One week later

  Annie had bought the biggest box of chocolates she could find in the shop; once Jo was home she would send her flowers as well, but they weren’t allowed in the hospital. She had spent the entire week doing nothing much – Will had forbidden her to leave the house unless she was with someone, which was fine by her. The whole experience had left her exhausted. Tilly had been released three days ago into the arms of a tearful Lisa and Ben. When Will had questioned her about how she had come into contact with Heath Tyson she had told them about her dreams of becoming a model. Will could have kicked himself; he had seen the stack of Vogue magazines in her bedroom and hadn’t made the connection. Before Lisa could begin to berate her for being so stupid, Annie had grabbed hold of her niece and held her tight, telling her that she would indeed make the most amazing model, but she was to go about it the proper way with a reputable photographer, who she and Will would vet before Tilly even set foot through their door.

  ‘Thank you, Annie. I thought you would all laugh at me.’

  Annie had kissed her and looked across at Tilly’s parents.

  ‘Isn’t that right, guys? If she wants to be a model then we’ll help her all the way, won’t we?’

  Ben had grabbed tight hold of Lisa’s arm and nodded.

  ‘Of course we will. Anything you want to do – we’re here to help you, aren’t we, love?’

  All eyes had fallen on Lisa, who everyone expected to rip Tilly’s dream to shreds in a thirty-second rant, but she’d whispered, ‘Of course we will; we’ll help you all the way.’

  Annie drove around the car park, looking for a space near to the hospital main entrance. Her back had been aching so much since she woke up this morning, it was hurting her to walk far. After driving around three times a car reversed out and she pulled into the last space outside the Accident and Emergency Department. As she got out of the car and leant in the back to get the chocolates, which had fallen to the floor, a sharp pain spread from the middle of her back into her side making her inhale sharply. It lasted a minute then subsided; she rubbed her belly, not sure what it was. Don’t even think about it, kid. I’m not ready and neither are you. So I’m just ignoring you. She made her way into the hospital and walked along the long corridor until she reached the lifts. Jo had been transferred to a general ward to recover. As she got to the ward the pain came again, making her pause to catch her breath. Surely not – she was only seven months pregnant; it was far too early and she’d still not finished the damn cot, which had more parts to it than an entire fitted kitchen. She walked into the small private room that she’d spent time in not that long ago and smiled to see Jo and Dr Miller sitting there. Annie rushed across and hugged her tight, careful of the bandage around her neck.

  ‘Thank you so much, Jo. I don’t know what to say. You saved our lives.’

  Jo smiled back at her, holding on to her just as tight.

  She croaked, ‘You also saved mine, Annie, in more ways than one. I hope we can still be friends. I can’t stop thinking about eating a slice of that cake from the village coffee shop.’

  ‘Friends? You will never be rid of me. Have you thought about where you’re going to stop when they release you? We have plenty of spare rooms at our house. You’d be more than welcome.’

  Jo looked across at Paul and smiled.

  ‘Thank you, but I have my very own doctor to take care of me now. Paul and I g
o back a very long time, but I was stupid and chose the wrong man. He has a room all ready and waiting for me. I can’t go back to my house; well, actually, it was always Heath’s house. I don’t want to go back there and, besides, I think the police won’t be finished with it for a long time yet. Will came to see me yesterday and told me what was happening with the investigation – it’s so horrific. I can’t even begin to imagine how he could do those wicked things to those girls. Leaving them all alone and burying them when he knew their families would be out looking for them… it’s just so horrific. Oh, by the way, that was incredibly sneaky; you never once stopped me when I was telling you how dreamy and gorgeous Will was that day we went for coffee.’

  Annie felt her cheeks begin to burn.

  ‘Sorry about that, but I wasn’t thinking straight – and it seemed funny hearing someone else tell me how dreamy he was. I mean, I’ve always thought that he was but it just didn’t seem right saying that it was my husband you were talking about. I didn’t want you to think I was some crazy, possessive woman.’

  She winked at Jo who laughed. Paul joined in.

  ‘Hang on a minute, what about me? Am I not dreamy?’

  Jo sat forward and grabbed hold of his hand.

  ‘You’ve always been dreamy, but I kept my head buried in the sand and hadn’t looked at you for so long that I’d forgotten.’

  He stood up and kissed her tenderly on the head.

  ‘Perfect answer and I can live with that. Right, I’m off; I have to go and do some work. My patients’ haemorrhoids and sprained wrists won’t mend themselves. You take care, Annie. It’s great to see you.’

  ‘Bye Doctor Miller.’

  ‘You can call me Paul, you know. I think we’ve gone past all the formalities now, don’t you?’

  ‘Yes, I suppose we have, but it just seems so cheeky, especially if I want you to sort my haemorrhoids out.’